Innovation in Expression

You might have seen the recent announcement that Instagram has a new kind of Emoji tool, to help expression in text. They called it a 'slider' but its not really a true slider.

We have a new concept for managing Emoji's and Smiley's, and ours is a true slider - it is still under development but should debut later in 2018.

Emoji are a great way to express yourself, and are very common. People like the expanding choice that is happening now, and that trend is going to continue. The first Emoji may have been invented by Prince, some say. Emoji are clearly here to stay.

Going Beyond Price: Rewards, and Your Network

Arkacia.com

Anyone can offer good prices. The internet is full of websites with good prices. But people also want a reliable site, rewards for frequent shoppers, lots of new stuff, and a full network of sites & services.

Amazon keeps showing people how it's done, yet few seem to be learning.The Amazon rewards program, is excellent yet no one has matched it, and few even try. Any large retailer could offer everything that Amazon does; but who has really tried to do that?

Amazon also has a large network of other sites, clearly listed at the bottom of their home page; it's over 40 sites! That is a huge network. Most other companies online have very few, if any, other sites in their network. The different sites in a network refer traffic to each other; it is a powerful mechanism.

Next time you see a struggling online retailer, look at these things. Look at how weak or limited their rewards program is. Do they offer cool stuff like music streaming? Do they have a large network, so you can find other things of interest? It's not that hard to see why others fail.

The problem is not just the offline (Brick & Mortar) companies; there are some online retailers that are struggling - yet right now we have a very strong economy. If your company is struggling now, what happens when the economy turns?

Having a network of sites gives you more visibility in Search, more visibility in App stores, more blogs, more news, more variety of user interfaces and styles of design, more price tiers, more languages, more local deals, more timely deals, more ways to give coupons and discounts, and more ways to add value to your Rewards.​

An Experiment: LateBreakingNews.com

We were curious, what the news might look like without the constant obsession that the news media has, with Trump. What news was out there, beyond Trump references?

So we created an experiment.

At our site LateBreakingNews.com, we show the twitter news feeds, from several major news media - but we filter out any post that has the world 'Trump' or 'Potus'. (We may add more filter terms later, too).

So what is left? It appears to be... real news!

Check it out, and let us know what you think. How can we make this better? what other news experiments would you like to see?
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A big goal of news media is more accuracy. What we really want to do is filter out mistakes and anything misleading. That is much harder to do now, with the web having so much content, and so many agenda-driven sites. News needs to be pure, and factual. We are optimistic that new technologies, and new social tools and awareness, will help solve this.

What do Customers Really Want from Redbox?

Everyone knows the DVD is dying. Well not really dying, more like a chronic illness; they will have some utility for a long time, but the viewing model is obviously shifting to movie streaming.

Can Redbox survive?

Redbox already tried a streaming service in 2013, and it failed. We are in a transition period right now, still giving Redbox an opportunity to transform itself. I believe Redbox cannot be another Netflix, and should not even try.

So what should Redbox do? I am going to tell you.

Users have a certain expectation of Redbox; a strong brand and a positive image - but a very specific image, and that image defines what Redbox is. In other words, at this point it's up to customers to say what Redbox is - it is NOT up to Redbox to say. So for example, if Redbox tries to say it is another Netflix, they will fail. Just as if Redbox said it is another Disney, or another Comcast, they would fail. Their brand has been defined.

So just what do customers say Redbox is? I think it's simple:

Redbox is an easy & convenient way to get movies that are almost new, but cheaper than Pay Per View.

That's it.

Nothing else.

Now if Redbox can achieve that same thing, in a streaming model, then they might survive long term. Otherwise, they are done.

On our Directv account, a PPV movie can cost up to $5.99. If Redbox could do almost-new movies for $2.99, that would be interesting. Perhaps they can have a membership fee, like $3.99/mo, in order to offer those prices. I believe there will be some kind of model like that which can work.

In terms of apps, the word 'box' does not seem to have much meaning, unless Redbox had its own set-top box; and color it red. It can be a dongle, like Chromecast. To keep it simple for users, Redbox could consider bundling other services into its set-top. And it really needs to be in Roku boxes, and built into TV's. Redbox needs to be everywhere; because markets now are fragmented into many different platforms. Their app needs to be bunded on phones like Samsung and the iPhone.

And they need the best rewards program that anyone has ever seen. If they can grow a rewards program with other offerings, like music streaming, then they might get some traction.

Just as their real-world red boxes are everywhere (it seems), so must they be online. They could even seek investor-partners from other large companies, by selling equity in Outerwall (the corporate parent of Redbox), as they forge deals to be visible on the main destination pages of the web. An example of that might be a strategic investment with a company like Panasonic, which is strong in manufacturing (could make the set-top box) and very active in connected environments.

If Redbox were to have some focus in connected environments that could be a growth area. An example of a connected environment is the car, and the bus. There are EV buses coming, where every seat will have both wifi and a nice monitor. Redbox needs to be very active in these connected environments, both in movies - and perhaps in music as well.

In summary, if Redbox is everywhere, is cheap, is active in the emerging connected environments, then they can survive - and even thrive.,

We have some other ideas related to movie streaming which are proprietary and will be communicated privately.